TNA Showed the Internet That They Are Drama Queens

[mrbooker]

Now I know people are going to come on here and spew trash and talk about how horrible TNA is their storylines suck, they are all old, they dont use talent etc... because everyone feels they have a masters degree in pro wrestling.

But after watching Impact tonight I realized one thing that I forgot about and have not seen in over a decade.... a organization other then WWE putting on a cable TV with major fan support

It does not matter what you guys think(internet fans), everyone was complaining like little school girls about the sting promo, yet the crowd has hot all night, it was packed, i did not see one empty seat, THAT is what matters. It was a reminder that if you build it they will come that for every 100 people on the internet bitching there are a thousand people who will go and sit to be a part of a crowd watching wrestling matches.

The 3-3-11 promo which was soooo overblown was a play on WWE's promo, for the simple fact that if it was sting on 2-21 everyone and i mean EVERYONE would have gone ape shit and have said i knew it! I knew it was him. TNA made that video as a play to the IWC and it pissed them off , personally i think people where more pissed that Sting was coming back to TNA and not going to WWE but thats for another post, but I guess it was not as bad as everyone made it out to be because it didnt piss of the jam packed crowd of the people watching

Simply put i think TNA realized if they pick prime wrestling area's they will ALWAYS have a hot, full house of fans. North Carolina, Memphis TN, New Jersey, New York. Because their are Interent fans, WWE fans, TNA fans and then there are WRESTLING fans, who would love a #2 organization to come to their town to watch WRESTLING matches, with known stars and that is what matters.

Say what you want about ratings, the lackluster storylines, the #1 single most important thing in pro wrestling is putting asses in the seats!!! point blank period the crowd adds a whole different dimension to what happens on the screen, andre and hogan in the pontaic silver dome, or hammerstein ballroom. Goldberg and Hogan at the georgia dome or MGM studios? and tonight would have had a completly different feel had it been in the impact zone. Not saying it was this epic show and some grand stage arena but the fact is there are some good moments that happen on IMPACT that are easily forgotten because they are infront of a crowd the size of a highschool basketball game instead of a wrestling crowd in a legit arena/field/stadium

And before people come saying I am a TNA mark, NO i am a huge wrestling fan, for over 18 years i watch TNA and WWE and if ROH had a channel on cable i would watch them as well.

Do you think TNA should try and go on the road more for IMPACT?

Do you think TNA should shoot live for their on the road shows for IMPACT?

Did TNA IMPACT feel like a more serious promotion thursday then it usually does due to the size of the crowd ?

If TNA came around your area would you got to watch the wrestlers on their roster?

 

[mowogo]

Do you think TNA should try and go on the road more for IMPACT?

Do you think TNA should shoot live for their on the road shows for IMPACT?

Did TNA IMPACT feel like a more serious promotion thursday then it usually does due to the size of the crowd ?

If TNA came around your area would you got to watch the wrestlers on their roster?

Yes, TNA should go on the road more for Impact, as it gives the wrestlers a chance to really show how over they are with the general audience. However, they should not tape two episodes straight without a decent length intermission.

Spoiler

The crowd was completely dead for the second taping as the first one was completely exhausting

They should not tape live, as their production is not to that point yet, and it is better to have a polished production and build toward live than to try and do live while still getting all of the technical stuff out of the way.

The crowd definitely made it feel more serious (but then I am a little biased) and really was into the show without trying to take shots when something bad was going on.

I did attend the show, and would definitely do so again. And based on my reaction, next time they come to Fayetteville, they will probably need to use the full arena because of how happy everybody was (especially as they were giving out Tom's Snacks after the show, and Don West doing a special Jeff Hardy Brown Bag Special outside of the arena before they opened the doors)

 

[Skairipa Matrix]

i think TNA should go on the road all the time! the way the stage was set up this week looked really cool and i loved it! if TNA came around where i live i would for sure pay to go c it live i always wanted to go see a TNA show live even it was just a house show! alot of people bash tna for alot of stuff but IMO at the end of last year TNA was putting out a better product then vince was....but sadly in 2011 TNA has looked like shit there 2 ppvs this year were boring as hell but impact this week was great! i cant wait to watch next weeks show should be good! hopefully this weeks impact was a sign of things to come!

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

I'm with you on this one completely. I was legitimately dumbfounded with all of the negative attention they were receiving for the 3-3-11 videos. It reminds me of the recent rants that Jericho has been going on about TNA and how they should think they are working for the best company in the world. This whole thing was a step in the right direction.

With all the 2-21 buildup there is not a doubt in my mind that at some point the WWE at least considered the idea of bringing in Sting for Wrestlemania. So what you have with Sting is the one guy that chooses to be in TNA simply because he wants to be in TNA. For all the internet complaining about the WWE rejects this was a time that TNA had a superstar choose them over the WWE. Why wouldn't you publicize that? The bottom line is as small of a battle it might have been TNA won one here. After the reaction when everyone thought the WWE videos were Sting, the WWE has to realize they messed up. Sure Triple H-Taker will be great, but we've seen it before and it wasn't all that great the first time around at Mania. I really hope that the ratings so a significant jump to rub it in the face of a few of the notable idiot columnists on this site and other opinionated posters who simply don't get it.

Back on track with the OP, Impact looked good tonight. The production looked solid, I could really tell a significant change in the overall feel of the show. Sure, there are some booking problems right now and one thing that people are going to have to give them time with is the fact than when you take your product to a new place, sometimes even when they have watched on TV the audience doesn't always react the way it should. The crowd was into the show and of course you had some out of place cheers for Flair and the Hardy's but the WWE deals with similar problems when they leave the country (a similar situation to TNA here considering they are largely based out of one general area).

Impact definitely had a more serious feel and if they came to my area I would definitely be interested in viewing a show at this point. As far as shooting live, I think I agree that they aren't quite ready for that at this point but I do believe it is something to consider especially on occasions where big surprises may be occurring because like it or not a much more substantial portion of the TNA fanbase can be found on the IWC, Unlike a previous poster I like the idea of taping a couple shows at once. Sure you may not get quite the audience reaction you would at a one time live show but it would be very similar to the way the WWE used to handle Smackdown/ECW tapings and never seemed to cause too much of a problem. In addition, one of the major draws for talent to TNA is the limited schedule and by having a one night show that covers two weeks of television product could have a significant impact on keeping the travel and schedule manageable. Overall, I've been excited about TNA a few times but I have to say this one kind of takes the cake. I'm by no means a regular TNA watcher but do keep up with it and strongly feel that if some of the jumbled together storylines can gain some clarity, the wrestlers are there and even the names necessary to run a major operation are there. No reason they shouldn't be able to run a decent operation given what I saw tonight.

You attack the WWE every chance you get but I think ultimately at this point they have to realize that they are beginning to carve a little bit of the TNA niche out of the wrestling landscape. Thats good enough.

 

[Tugboat77]

I agree with the OP's post. It was like a whole different show, which is good. The only thing I have issue with is the comments about the 3-3-11 promo. It was not relevant at all to tonight's show. The 3-3-11 teaser promo was a pretaped and added to the end of last week's edition of Impact (Feb. 24). Tonight's edition of Impact as well as next week's was taped last Thursday (again Feb. 24). So the live crowd couldn't possibly have seen the promo until they got home and watched Impact on tv. Unless, of course, they showed it to the live crowd during a commercial break or something like that. Otherwise, it couldn't have had a bearing on the live crowd's reaction because they didn't know about it.

 

[mowogo]

The 3-3-11 promo had no impact on the crowd reaction, as they did not show it to us at all. The lack of the promo actually made the whole intro have even more of an impact (imho) as it really made the return build bigger, without as much of the copying baggage everybody has been complaining about.

 

[DemonToSome]

Here's some food for thought for the OP...maybe the live crowd wasn't upset or pissed about the 3/3/11 promo because it WASN'T SHOWN TO THE LIVE AUDIENCE. Kinda puts a hole in your theory doesn't it. Anyway, I'm personally glad that Sting is back in TNA because now people can stop talking about him coming to WWE.

As for the different groups of fans, I'm a wrestling fan and want competition and a #2 promotion but that doesn't equate to me having to like the majority of the bullshit on my tv every time I turn on TNA.

You have your opinion and that's fine but I think the logic you use to formulate it is faulty.

To answer your questions...yes to all of them.

 

[ZasUpahKICK]

I give TNA credit. This weeks episode was actually pretty good. Even the "wedding" wasn't as stupid as I thought it was gonna be. Good job TNA!

 

[cpac4]

IMPACT tonight was HOT!!! Man! I always figured it would be a better show in front of a bigger crowd, but that was just SPECTACULAR tonight. The energy at impact tonight was CRAZY! You could even see it in the wrestlers. I'm sorry but that was the best wrestling program I have seen all year, and wwe I think has been really good lately too. So thats saying alot.

Just incredible. Really made me feel like TNA is a DAMN serious competitor. I always knew they were anyway, but tonight just proved that if you give TNA the crowd and arena like WWE....its not only just as good. Its better. TNA has stronger story lines. I dont care what anyone says.

 

[dogmanx23]

I totally loved them not being in the impact zone. TNA needs to go on the road every week. That impact zone is small and sometimes is completely dead. It looked like a real show for once and the feel of it was completely different.

 

[Rayne]

You can't really figure on the reaction to the video shown last week, because the live audience never saw it. For them, Sting's return was a complete surprise. (At least, for the portion of the TNA audience that doesn't read the dirt sheets.) So, thankfully, at least some people were surprised by Sting's umpteenth comeback.

Should TNA go on the road more? I've only been saying that for the past year. The expense of a road show, as costly as it is, is more then paid back by the differing reactions of the crowd. In Orlando, you get the same fifty schmucks every taping, plus a bunch of people off the studio grounds who go "oooh, professional wrestling, how kitschy!" On the road, you get people who have actually been watching the product and liked it enough to spend their money on it. Which crowd is going to give you the more enthusiastic response? You can only pump in so much canned heat before your home audience picks up on it.

This has nothing to do with the Sting 'surprise', for lack of a better term, although it was very important for TNA to have a good show after last week's debacle. Also, I'm pretty sure no one is handing out master's degrees in professional wrestling; I don't think the job placement rates would be high enough for that.

 

[deforty]

I agree with most of what i read on here i think they need to go live at least once a month and travel more. Even if its the same areas they have been already and know that they can sell out well in those markets. They need to sell two sets of tickets one for the live show and one for the taping. Sell them in a discounted combo "don West brown bag special", doesn't matter. Something Else than being in the impact zone.

A big part of the problem is their advertising of the shows and PPV's. I just turned on the TV and its 10AM turned it to USA and guess what i saw a commercial for the Return of SSCA on RAW. Its 10AM who the fuck is watching it as most people are in school or at work. I have seen this commercial on all the time where as spike I might see one commercial all day long where as I could sit here and see a raw one on usa all day long.

If they put out nice commercial packages to the areas that they are attending to do the shows and maybe a billboard not with a picture of Hogan but mention TNA is coming on so and so dates and mention Jeff Hardy, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair....people will by the tickets to see it. The problem is NO ONE know about TNA.

I read an article on Kevin Nash after his redebut of Diesel at RR, several people were asking what has Nash been doing for the last 7 years. They had no Idea about TNA, that is a problem. Whoever is Spikes parent company might want to run a couple ads too, USA and SYFY is run by NBC, I have seen WWE commercials on all three channels. I am not sure who operates spike like CBS, ABC or NBC but i would put out more ads to make more money.


Just doing a couple of these things will attract new viewers.

 

[BestForTheBusinesso9]

Is it really relevant that the promo wasn't shown to the audience? It was still the same basic intro that Undertaker had a couple weeks ago and like I said before I liked the idea but if the promo was a ripoff then even more so the entrance was too. They realize the show was taped and the buzz about Sting's return was going to be there so why not run a promo about it. People would have bashed them if they didn't run a promo and Sting just showed up because they would claim it was a missed opportunity for a ratings boost. Like the posters are saying though the live audience doesn't make a huge difference on the success or failure of the promo angle but any increase in ratings I believe makes it worth it.

 

[MB1025]

I was at the taping in NC and the crowd had no idea Sting was there. All they told us during commercial breaks was that Jeff Hardy would be facing a mystery opponent. The taping started at 7:00 pm eastern standard time on the 24th. Which means that is 4 hours before the 3-3-11 promo aired on TV. Unless you read the dirt sheets on your way to the arena you you had no idea Sting was there and facing Hardy.

 

[MB1025]

I agree with most of what i read on here i think they need to go live at least once a month and travel more. Even if its the same areas they have been already and know that they can sell out well in those markets. They need to sell two sets of tickets one for the live show and one for the taping. Sell them in a discounted combo "don West brown bag special", doesn't matter. Something Else than being in the impact zone.

A big part of the problem is their advertising of the shows and PPV's. I just turned on the TV and its 10AM turned it to USA and guess what i saw a commercial for the Return of SSCA on RAW. Its 10AM who the fuck is watching it as most people are in school or at work. I have seen this commercial on all the time where as spike I might see one commercial all day long where as I could sit here and see a raw one on usa all day long.

If they put out nice commercial packages to the areas that they are attending to do the shows and maybe a billboard not with a picture of Hogan but mention TNA is coming on so and so dates and mention Jeff Hardy, Hulk Hogan, Ric Flair....people will by the tickets to see it. The problem is NO ONE know about TNA.

I read an article on Kevin Nash after his redebut of Diesel at RR, several people were asking what has Nash been doing for the last 7 years. They had no Idea about TNA, that is a problem. Whoever is Spikes parent company might want to run a couple ads too, USA and SYFY is run by NBC, I have seen WWE commercials on all three channels. I am not sure who operates spike like CBS, ABC or NBC but i would put out more ads to make more money.


Just doing a couple of these things will attract new viewers.

Fayetteville had a huge TNA double sided billboard that was up. It must have been up for a while because it said February 24th Impact tappings get your tickets now. It also had Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson on it with a big TNA and Spike TV logo.

 

[Rayne]

Is it really relevant that the promo wasn't shown to the audience? It was still the same basic intro that Undertaker had a couple weeks ago and like I said before I liked the idea but if the promo was a ripoff then even more so the entrance was too. They realize the show was taped and the buzz about Sting's return was going to be there so why not run a promo about it. People would have bashed them if they didn't run a promo and Sting just showed up because they would claim it was a missed opportunity for a ratings boost. Like the posters are saying though the live audience doesn't make a huge difference on the success or failure of the promo angle but any increase in ratings I believe makes it worth it.

Yes, it does matter. The "3.3.11" vignette told everyone watching that Sting would be appearing next week. Everyone knew that Sting would be returning, except for the people in attendance.

Why does this matter? Crowd reaction. THAT'S how you do a surprise, Dixie- you don't tell people about it before hand. You don't want to tell people something big is going to happen on (insert Thursday date here); you want to spring it on them without warning. The fans who are watching will feel rewarded; the fans who missed the show will realize they need to start watching every week so they can start catching these 'big moments', for lack of a better term. Then they'll tune in for the next show, which covers the aftermath of the 'surprise' as well as the new storyline direction resulting from it.

If the crowd had known they would be seeing Sting in advance, I don't think you would have gotten a quarter of the reaction that he got. In that way, it was a smart move. Seriously, the only major mistake I can see by TNA in all of this was trying to tell their fans that last week's show would have the BIGGEST SURPRISE OF THE YEAR, GUARANTEED. Beyond that, Sting's return has been pretty well managed.

See? I do give TNA credit when I feel they're due. It just hasn't happened that often.

 

[deforty]

Fayetteville had a huge TNA double sided billboard that was up. It must have been up for a while because it said February 24th Impact tappings get your tickets now. It also had Hulk Hogan, Jeff Hardy, and Mr. Anderson on it with a big TNA and Spike TV logo.

That is what they need to do they did have what 4000 people in attendance plus they sold alot of brown bag deals before the show i read..That makes me want to go to TNA show but it is to far for me to go and when they do have a house show here i dont hear about right away and its too late. They need alot more exposure that all i think they need for now. If they pick up 500000 more viewers by the end of the year it will increase their revenue and they will probably take Impact on the road more with more people buying tickets.

 

[mrbooker]

Very good responses I agree that they should go on the road for impact but not tape live, people who complain its not live their are no surprises, my theory is if you want to ruin the surprise for yourself by reading spoilers go ahead and ruin it, personally i just watch the weekly schedule like i have been doing the past 18 years, you can still have a damn good show while being taped, no one is telling you to go read spoilers

and to alot of people saying my argument is flawed with the promo since the live audience would never have a chance to see it since it was taped thats not the point so let me clarify my statement

The 3-3-11 promo which was soooo overblown was a play on WWE's promo, for the simple fact that if it was sting on 2-21 everyone and i mean EVERYONE would have gone ape shit and have said i knew it! I knew it was him. TNA made that video as a play to the IWC and it pissed them off , personally i think people where more pissed that Sting was coming back to TNA and not going to WWE but thats for another post, but I guess it was not as bad as everyone made it out to be because it didnt piss of the jam packed crowd of the people

Here is my point the promo happened on 3-3-11 everyone went nuts, as i stated in my quote its really not about the promo its the fact that sting went to TNA and that pissed of people off, the promo added some more fuel to it.

As for the crowd not knowing about the promo so it breaks my theory its the whole point of my theory, the 3-31-11 promo was just that a promo and nothing more its hype. As the title of my post shows " TNA Showed the Internet That They Are Drama Queens" it did show just that people saying im never watching TNA again, TNA is lame copying WWE, etc...When i say "it was not as bad as everyone made it out to be because it didnt piss of the jam packed crowd of the people" its the finish which people went crazy for THE END RESULT, THE CLIMAX of the storyline was loved and recieved well by crowd when sting returned which is what matters. I have NEVER seen a promo be the reason for a success its what takes place inside the ring.

The promo was done to get people to tune in for the BROADCAST and maybe it pissed of 10,000 people on the internet but I bet it made another 50,000+ people tune which is really what matters and if they didnt play that promo that would not have the additional viewers the tuned into watch Impact.

so its a Catch 22 people would be saying wow TNA is stupid for not hyping Sting returns and getting more ratings for their first Impact outside the Impact Zone or they say "wow that promo is shit they copied WWE i know its sting" which is kind of the point to know its sting to tune in next week, and the promo got people pissed it got people talking, but I am willing to bet it got people watching